51
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe Hollywood ReporterRay BennettCould easily be filled with cliches but in the hands of filmmaker John Gray, it's a sparkling piece of entertainment that deserves a wide audience.
- 70VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonA modestly engaging domestic drama that earns few points for originality but rewards aud attention with persuasive performances, outbursts of robust humor and a vivid yet understated evocation of time and place.
- 50Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonEven though Gray is no raw-boned rookie-he has made TV movies for decades, plus, back in the day, a single Steven Seagal floater-his movie is rather inexcusably obvious, going for "troot," but recycling dese-dose-dem clichés already pressed into plastic lumber 25 years ago.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenBecause Mr. Thurston and Mr. Wigdor lack the hard shells necessary to make their characters credible, White Irish Drinkers feels synthetic. Mr. Lang and the older cast members fare better, but they can't save a movie that runs on clichés.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenFrom that title on down, White Irish Drinkers is a compendium of clichés struggling to upgrade its status and become a respectable archetype.
- 40Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearAtmosphere and acting can't save a script filled with easy-target irony ("Who ever heard of gettin' rich from workin' with computers?") and a plot that telegraphs every left turn miles in advance.
- 40Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleThe clichés are what make White Irish Drinkers a drearily predictable bout, so much so that the decent last-round plot twist that momentarily dazes is immediately undercut by the sappy, life-changing-fuh-EV-uh jab telegraphed from the beginning.
- 38Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrAll the good intentions in the world can't save White Irish Drinkers from playing like the baldest of retreads.
- 30MovielineMovielineAs you might have guessed from its title, Drinkers is as full of cheap sentimentality and predictable behavior as a Hell's Kitchen bar would have been in the 1970s.